bee trucks

[tecumseh]

joel sezs:
1 beekeeper driving ( a svelt beekeeer@175)= 175

tecumseh replies:
why joel you must not know any really svelt beekeeper like george ferguson or myself??? 175 pounds... don't think I will ever see that kind of gross vehicle weight.

then joel adds:
I beleive My 7.3 diesel could pull the 20,000lbs mentioned but we put the hives on the trailer and haul equipment in the truck

tecumseh apoligizes for the confusion:
me very bad.... the 10 ton figure for my truck was for truck and trailer (I guess I should have tagged this gross towing weight). adding a net load of 5 tons to a one ton truck would, I do believe, squat the beast plum down on the ground. I did casually see this trick done on one occasion when a fellow loaded a very small dozer on the back of a stretched one ton flat bed. the fellow never made it to the bottom of the hill. so the liability in this case joel simply translated into the driver dying... the 'rig' could carry that kind of weight, but it would not stop...

[swarm_trapper]

wow this is great guys. it sounds like I need a bigger truck or carry less hives. Nick

[honeyman46408]

Hey Nick
I vote for the 6X6 U would look good on a date in that

[swarm_trapper]

shoot honeyman, cant you see how this is going. i need to cut down in wieght not pick up another passenger [img]smile.gif[/img] even though it would make a the rough ride more enjoyable lol.

[swarm_trapper]

hey guys what does a double deep hive wieght about? say just before the first super gets put on. just a guess would be great.

[sjvbee]

Nick
I try to figure 80-90# spring to 110-140# fall.
Scott

[Joel]

{I also wondered what kind of investment it would require to buy a truck, run and maintain it and whether it would be worth it.}

These question have no place in a bee truck discussion. $500 or $50000 a bee truck is a destination in life, a Cabin in the mountains, a hut on the beach, a childhood fort in the woods! The only place you are truly happy when you aren't actually working bees or hammering out messages on Beesource. Most of them are aborations of vehicles that have so much time, money and love invested in their aging/ailing drive train one could have purchased a new suburu forester or possibly a suburban. But we can't really haul bees and honey and bee stuff in those could we, could we? We bear the scratch of branches and bushes on their paint like a badge of honor. When they spark alive on the slightest turn of the key even the most gilded look upon them and see thier beauty and independance. We are rock stars to the gaping public as we proudly manuever them through the world loaded with honey supers, with beehives, with a pallet load of aromatic fresh new pine supers waiting to be assembled. We buckle under the task of changing a head gasket on I-95 with a load of bees on, a drive shaft in the Mountains of PA during a thunderstorm, a tire puctured by that hive staple we dropped last year and never found. Still we know a bee truck is nary a possession, a truck, a mode of tranportation in an oil powered world, it is truly a station in life, however humble.

[size="1"][ January 02, 2007, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: Joel ][/size]

[tecumseh]

ve-ry nicely said joel..

or as the old black character said in 'Crossroads'.... 'a man ain't a man without wheels'

[Trevor Mansell]

So did you ever buy your beehichle? Or are you still looking?

[JC]

A commercial beekeeper informed me, from bitter experience, that a 1 ton truck was all I needed. Even a commercial beekeeper, like himself, did not need a 2 ton truck. He also told me make sure that I could obtain some mud tires for the truck. A friend of his made the mistake of buying a truck that didn't take mud tires.

[swarm_trapper]

yup sory i didnt post sooner i got one a week ago monday
a one ton 1999 dodge cummings 24v, 300,000 highway MI on it manual 5 sp, brand new injector pump and lift pump. 12' bed, hidaway gooseneck hitch, only 2 wheel drive only part i dont like about it but i figure i wont have it on snow hardly ever and just have to whatch it carfully in the mud. needs new back tires on it so im thinking about some cooper dicovery ATR's. I love it [img]smile.gif[/img]
thanks for the help guys. Nick

[greenbeekeeping]

I should have taken some pics of things not to do with a 2wd. I have been stuck twice the past month. Dang rain. Thank goodness for john deere's and wreckers. Haha.

[Sundance]

I picked up a 95 GMC 1 ton with a 16 foot
flatbed and duels. It has a tommy lift but
I am going to remove it to increase the
weight ability. It had only 100K on it
but the trany bearings (5 spd NV4500) are
makin a bunch of noise. It goes into the
local VoTech next week for a trany tear
down.

It is the 6.5 TD. They are a good engine
if you do the following:

1. 4" exhaust

2. Re Chip it (the 40 HP one)

3. Move the PMD and add a heat sink

4. Marine injectors.

Adds about a grand but it is an amazing
difference.

Here's a site that specializes in 6.5's

http://www.ssdieselsupply.com/index.html

The nice thing about used trucks is that
if you don't like it you can dump it and
not get hurt too bad (or maybe even make
a buck or two).

[Trevor Mansell]

The older dodges are nice ,hard to kill. My grandfather bought one that was sitting in a field for a couple of years. A 1997 cummins diesel, it had 260,000 miles on it when he bought it . It now has close to 400,000 on it.
Im hoping that the new 6.7 Cummins will be as good as the 5.9 , I am thinking of getting a Dodge Chasis cab this summer. I use a F-550 with a 16 foot bed for everything, so I want to get a 1 ton to do the light weight stuff.

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

Personally still seeking a truck. Dreaming of a Unimog but will probably end up with a mid-eighties F350 or Ram.

Will get by this year with a (believe it or not) Aerostar van.

[size="1"][ January 27, 2007, 04:34 AM: Message edited by: Paraplegic Racehorse ][/size]

[swarm_trapper]

yup i got by the first year with 20 hives and a mini van it worked had a pickup for moving them and pulling honey though. hey is there any cheap place for the under body tool boxes most of you guys have them on your truck right?

[Michael Palmer]

>only 2 wheel drive only part i dont like about it but i figure i wont have it on snow hardly ever and just have to whatch it carfully in the mud.

Get a set of chains. You'll find out that it doesn't have to be snow or mud that gets you stuck. Wet grass will stop you too, when you're pulling your loaded gooseneck in and out of your yards.

[greenbeekeeping]

Hey swarmtrapper. Tractor supply has a nice selection of toolboxes that you can mount under the bed.

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

>> only 2 wheel drive only part i dont like about it but i figure i wont have it on snow hardly ever and just have to whatch it carfully in the mud.

> Get a set of chains.

Take it from a rural-Alaska taxi man: get a winch, too, the strongest you can afford.

[eaglesbee]

how about a 1 ton toyota with a 10 foot bed and douls for a small operation good gas milage? seem like you only need a big truck to move bees and a small one for work
Lee